Not long ago, the TIKO 3D printer debuted at SXSW, showing off its specs to attendees and boldly proclaiming an upcoming retail price of $179. The unique looking delta-style 3D printer has finally hit Kickstarter and its early-bird reward, which began the TIKO at $99, has already sold out. At this writing, $139 pledge packages are still available...

SXSW Interactive has no shortage of hype. Words like “ninja,” “rockstar,” “thought leader,” ” game changer,” “visoniary,” and many more are tossed about like a football in a Tommy Wiseau film. Now, there’s nothing wrong with enthusiasm, but spending SXSW seeking for a herd of deeply ...

Airwolf 3D has officially teamed up with two of America’s leading leasing corporations to make their latest 3D printer models accessible to a wider audience. Airwolf 3D is teaming up with TimePayment Corporation, an equipment leasing company that focuses on transactions with a selling price as low as $500 up to $10,000, and Marlin Equipment, whos...

Considering how quickly 3D printing technology and materials are changing and evolving, it’s easy to take products at their face value and not consider their uses for other applications. Flexible filament has been around for quite some time now, and it’s been used for everything from miniature car tires to iPhone bumpers. Now, French 3D printin...

Stratasys announced an interesting fact with respect to the effects of 3D printing on industrial supply chains: Volvo Trucks is experiencing dramatically decreased turnaround times of assembly line manufacturing tools. Since using Stratasys 3D printing technology at its engine production facility in Lyon, France, the turnaround times have dro...

Despite drowning stocks, the 3D printing industry is really booming. Now that the whole world is familiar with the technology, we’re swamped with stories. And, because we can’t get to every single one (as much as we’d truly like to!), we’ve decided to kick off a weekly link round up. Go figure! Without further ado (or adon’t):
Skanect Update Improves Color 3D Scanning Functionality
Now that Occipital has successfully launched their Structure Sensor for the most recent iDevices, the company has returned to its original 3D scanning software, Skanect, to bring it up to the quality of the iPad’s superior color camera.…Continue Reading →

In the beginning of the year, I wrote that 2015 will be the year of materials and acquisitions, and first up is Mixee Labs, whose team members were just acquired by Amazon!
On their blog, they posted:
“We are happy to announce that the Mixee Labs team is joining Amazon. Last fall, we worked with Amazon to launch customizable products in their 3D Printing Store. We will now bring our software to Amazon and join the 3D Printing team full time.…Continue Reading →

Sometimes – actually many times – I get contacted by people who make the most incredible things with 3D printing. Other times, I get contacted by people who make the most obvious things and I wonder why no one has done it before. Usually, the latter one’s end up being more successful. That will be the case, I believe, for the first 3D printed chewing gum system, developed by a team of students at London’s Royal College of Art and Imperial College.…Continue Reading →

Valentine’s Day is here. Or, as my dirty uncle used to call it “V.D. Day”. Clearly he hasn’t been to health class since they changed it to “STI Day”. For you, and my non-existent uncle, to celebrate Valentine’s Day in style, we’ve got a cute little figurine from Sketchfab designer DerMische. DerMische, who has a plethora of similarly adorable figures on the file sharing site, has created a downloadable model of an enamored pilot flying an aerial banner. So, if you can’t come up with the dough to do your own skywriting, 3D print this little fella and let him and your 3D printer do all of the work.…Continue Reading →

Earlier this year, iMakr’s 3D printables community, My Mini Factory, rolled out its first My Mini Factory Academy in London, introducing small classes to the world of 3D printing through an intensive workshop series. Deeming the program a resounding success, the company has decided to ship it overseas, via the retailer’s Manhattan location.
Starting April 6, My Mini Factory Academy will take off in New York City, giving students the tools necessary to learn 3D design and 3D printing and, iMakr suggests, start their own businesses. …Continue Reading →

Stratasys is increasingly present in every segment of manufacturing. So much so, in fact, that Stratasys Direct Manufacturing just signed an agreement with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to leave the planet Earth and bring its technology into space.
Stratasys Direct Manufacturing will use its professional FDM 3D printing technology to build an innovative system with a 30 antenna array that will be installed on the satellites of the projects FORMOSAT- 7 and COSMIC-2, aimed to create a new constellation of sensors to improve the observation of meteorological phenomena and climate.…Continue Reading →

Anyone who knows me outside of the world of 3D printing knows that I love holograms and what they represent for the meaning of life and reality. Through a holography course at CalArts, I learned of the many ways to create optical illusions and, with my meager skills and resources, I attempted to create an animated phantogram for the iPad, envisioning a method for easy holographic interfaces for the masses. Unfortunately, no one but my friends, family, and a few art students really saw it or cared. …Continue Reading →

Now that qualified customers have been able to place orders for the Autodesk Ember 3D printer, through the Ember™ Explorer Program, the DLP 3D printer is officially going to be made available to the rest of us. Regardless of your technical skill or affiliation with a design or engineering firm, starting tomorrow you will be able to buy the Autodesk Ember for $5995.
Tomorrow, Autodesk will be removing the access pass requirement to purchase the Ember printer, put in place for a small group of early explorers. …Continue Reading →

If 3D scanning is a method to digitize physical objects and 3D printing is a way to make digital items real, augmented reality is one way for virtual and digital objects to interact and complement each other. While 3D printing and 3D scanning have been around for almost three decades, VR began to take hold with the diffusion, in the early 2000’s, of smart and connected devices, and – in spite of some drawbacks relating to wearable AR devices – it is becoming an integral part of ubiquitous computing, gradually superimposing virtual 3D images onto real objects.…Continue Reading →

Each year, more than 2,560 international exhibitors and more than 81,000 visitors attend the ISPO fair in Munich to show and view the latest products for outdoor activities, skiing, health and fitness, as well as the latest innovations in materials and fabrics. This edition of the fair has been enhanced with a cutting-edge application in the ski products category: a fully 3D printed Ski boot prototype.
The inventor of the Easystand ski boot, Franz Egger, syas that he used his over 30-year experience in the sports apparel sector to develop a deeper understanding of what a ski-boot should provide, in terms of comfort and performance.…Continue Reading →

A new partnership has formed to bring to the US market a desktop 3D printer that its manufacturer believes is faster than all others on the market. Designed by Italian 3D printing manufacturer DYNAMO3D, the D3D Evo is said to achieve print speeds of up to 450 mm/s and traveling speeds of 700 mm/s. Now, the D3D Evo is coming to the US through 3D printer retailer DesignBox3D.
As stated in previous coverage on 3DPI, the D3D Evo relies on technology from Create It Real, a Danish company that develops 3D printers and 3D printing accessories. …Continue Reading →

BioBots is a 3D bioprinting startup located right in the heart of Philadelphia. After working to push BioBots out of their University of Pennsylvania dorm rooms and into hands of researchers, the firm took to the DreamIt Health accelerator program, officially launching in August. So, what exactly does the BioBots printer do?
BioBots 1, the startup’s first product, is a high resolution, desktop 3D bioprinter that builds functional three-dimensional, living tissue. It works in a similar way to FDM printers, printing one layer at a time, but with a bevy of hydrogels, such as agarose, collagen, alginate, and polyethylene glycol.…Continue Reading →

REAL 2015 is about creating a phenomenal pit stop at the crossroads of the sensing and making industries around the globe. Guests there will be exchanging ideas, and giving presentations and demonstrations that revolve around these crossroads, a place called Reality Computing. Luckily for me, I’ll have a chance to be in attendance and one of the guests I’m most excited to see is Chris Anderson.
As editor of WIRED from 2001-2012, he covered a tremendous amount of innovation, growth, and mutation in the tech world, and won several awards for his work. …Continue Reading →

This Valentine’s Day, why not warm the cockles of your heart with fun, animated short film about love, made possible with 3D printing? Below is a flick, produced by GoEngineer and Tandem Motion Picture Studios, depicting the story of one lonely robot who discovers love during the after hours of a 3D printing design studio. So, if you’ve ever wondered what happens when an FDM 3D printing shop shuts down for the night, look no further.
To make a clever and cute film such as “SHeLvEd” is no easy endeavor. …Continue Reading →

The Cheetah 3D printer from Hans Fouche! You’ve already heard a lot about Hans’s enormous 3D printer, capable of printing (almost) entire vacuums and lawnmowers, as well as a fashionable pair of shoes. Well, the Cheetah 3D printer 3.1 is now officially for sale and at a price that undercuts many large-scale 3D printers.
For 100,000 South African Rand (about $8,533 USD), you can purchase the super fast, super big Cheetah 3.1 and jump into the world of large-scale 3D printing. …Continue Reading →

While Bonsailab is the name of the Japanese company behind it, the new BS Toy 3D printer, unveiled at the Nuremberg Toy Fair, is directly reminiscent of a typical miniature bonsai tree: first of all, it’s green and, second, it is damn cute. It seems perfect both as a toy and and as a toy making tool.
It measures only 200 x 200 x 200mm, which is not the print volume (which is 130 x 125 x 100; still larger than a MakerBot Mini), but the volume of the 3D printer itself, which only weight 2 Kg.…Continue Reading →

After being selected among the top qualifiers in a recent start-up contest in Paris, Israeli firm Pzartech has entered its beta phase and launched a limited selection of designs, including one that might come in handy for Valentine’s Day. The local 3D printing service now lets you customize a smartphone case with a special message for your loved one and get it 3D printed near you.
While the selection of 3D printing services and shops registered to the Israeli site is still somewhat limited, Pzartech is shaping up to be a local alternative to 3D Hubs, with a particular focus on plastic replacement parts, such as, for example, vacuum cleaner parts.…Continue Reading →

A venture by professional rapid prototyping service HSL, .bijouets was one of the very first companies in Italy, and globally, to implement professional 3D printing processes such as SLA and SLS to let designers experiment with new geometries and alternative products.
After enjoying a significant business growth and raising more than a few media eyebrows, .bijouts is an established company, launching new designs. The newest series, Tassel and Fogliolina, were presented at the recent Mason et Objet event in Paris, complementing a new 2015 collection, which also includes Fibbia, Piano & Tricot, Cameo & Araldico, Lucky, Gemma, Mondi, and Treccio e Spirale models.…Continue Reading →

Industrial 3D printer manufacturers may be suffering in the stock market, but desktop manufacturers like Aleph Objects are doing quite well, if Aleph Objects’ press releases are any indicator. The LulzBot maker has just announcement, among other developments, the release of the LulzBot TAZ 5.
According to the company, LulzBot brand 3D printers are selling like hot cakes, due to “a surge in demand and expanding global distribution channels.” These sales have enabled the company to more quickly develop the TAZ 5, currently available for $2,194.95 through the company’s distribution partners or LulzBot itself. …Continue Reading →

After running for about three months aboard the ISS, the first 3D printer in space has finally sent a bit of itself back to Earth for testing. At 7:44 pm EST yesterday, SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft landed in the Pacific Ocean, about 259 miles southwest of Long Beach, California. Among the 3,700 pounds of NASA cargo on board, the spacecraft carried 3D printed samples produced on the Made In Space Zero G Printer, currently installed on the International Space Station.
On Tuesday, flight controllers from the Mission Control Center at Johnson Space Center in Houston robtically positioned Dragon to release from its deorbit procedure and perform a parachute-assisted splashdown.…Continue Reading →

Among the most fascinating uses of 3D printing, in my opinion, are those where this modern, mechatronic technology is implemented to improve upon centuries-old production methods. In a way, artisans were the Makers of the past and, in this sense, Italy has been, for a long time, a country of Makers and distributed manufacturing. Sharebot, one of Italy’s leading 3D printer manufacturers, recently saw its newest 3D printer, the 700 mm wide XXL model, used by local design studio Nespoli&Partners to create a replica of a “boiserie”, an intricate wood paneling popular in seventeenth and eighteenth century French interior decoration.…Continue Reading →

3D printers are most often used to make prototypes, but, if you intend to build a 3D printer yourself – or any other electronic or robotic device for that matter – you might have to make a prototype of it first. In that case, you would need the Voltera V-One, a circuit board prototyping machine that recently hit Kickstarter and already doubled its initial goal.
That’s because the Voltera team really answers many Makers’ demand for the rapid prototyping of circuit boards.…Continue Reading →

3D printing allows prosthetic designers to eliminate traces of traditionally manufactured devices and replace them with customized designs. Often times, the wearers end up with an artificial limb that looks like it was transplanted out of a comic or graphic novel. It’s interesting how shifting the design of a prosthesis can help those who wear them feel more positive about having to wear one. Thanks to sensing technology like scanners, great 3D software and 3D printing, a medical expense has been obliterated and the person can now have major input into the style, look, and feel of the prosthesis.…Continue Reading →

Public/media hysteria over 3D printed weapons may once again be reignited after police in Queensland, Australia raided the home of a 28-year-old man and found, alongside a sawn-off rifle, ammunition, and marijuana, a handful of 3D printed gun parts and knuckle dusters.
Detective Inspector Scott Knowles, of the Queensland Police, recounts to the local news that the plastic parts found in the man’s home were almost all of the essential pieces to a larger weapon, saying, “We’ve obviously got to get it through our ballistic experts but we can identify most if not all of the major components of a weapon.…Continue Reading →

Last year, one 3D printer manufacturer attempted to address concerns about the fumes emitted while 3D printing with ABS with a “fume free” 3D printer called the ZYYX, which was equipped with a built-in carbon air filter. In addition to this family-friendly feature, the ZYYX was designed with other useful characteristics, such as a bed-leveling probe and an enclosed print area. Now, the manufacturer has announced even more tools to ensure a more seamless 3D printing experience: a filament monitor and failed-print detection.…Continue Reading →

Last year, one startup made a huge splash on Indiegogo with its elegant-looking and practically-priced MOD-t 3D printer. With $680,000, New Matter was able to raise almost twice its funding goal for its sub-$400 FDM/FFF 3D printer. The company is already quickly growing. Not only is New Matter set to ship 2,600 MOD-t 3D printers to its crowdfunding backers this May, but the Pasadena-based startup has also raised funding through independent investors.
In addition to finding funds from Bill Gross’s Idealab, New Matter today announced that they’ve secured $6.5 million in Series A funding led by Alsop Louie Partners and participation from frogVentures, First Round Capital, and Dolby Family Ventures. …Continue Reading →

In July of 2014, Singapore-based Zecotek Photonics partnered with Greek-Armenian company LT-Pyrkal to produce a small, high speed, metal-based laser sintering 3D printer. That project is still ongoing, and a first working prototype is due in Q3 of this year. In the meantime, the company has also announced a new breakthrough method to produce metal powders for laser sintering
The new manufacturing approach was developed by the Zecotek Display Systems division, in partnership with LT-Pyrkal and with the Russian-based Institute of Chemical Physics, to address issues in traditional metal powder manufacturing.…Continue Reading →

On March 3, 2009, when the financial crisis had taken US stocks to some record lows and the S&P Index had hit an intraday low of 666, President Obama went on record saying that “buying stocks now is potentially a good deal, if you’ve got a long-term perspective on it.” Since then, the S&P has more than tripled to a record high of 2070 (in early February), thus making Obama’s one of the best stock calls of all time. Those who own stock in the 3D printing industry are sure hoping the same will be true for this technological microcosm, which does not necessarily follow dynamics that are in line with those of the stock market as a whole.…Continue Reading →

According to Business Korea, sources at Samsung Electronics have previously stated that the company would not enter the 3D printing industry for another ten years or so. Today, however, news has come out of The Korea Times suggesting that the electronics giant is already beginning research into the technology, along with other cutting edge projects, with a new innovation team that we might as well call Samsung X.
A representative at Samsung Electronics has said that the company’s new innovation team, led by Samsung chief of mobile Shin Jong-kyun, will explore such technologies as virtual reality, UAVs, robotics, and 3D printing, explaining, “The team will explore how technologies could help people’s daily life for a better future… Given the significance of the team, members will have more authority and independence because the main purpose of the team isn’t to develop single devices for any imminent results, but to develop solutions to go with Samsung’s manufacturing capabilities.”
Photo via AnandTech.…Continue Reading →

Last year, Shapeways made an exciting announcement that the 3D printing service bureau was venturing into the world of precious metals. Implementing investment casting, the company could transform just about any complex printed shape into platinum, 18k gold, 14k rose gold, and 14k white gold. ‘Course, precious metals cost a precious penny. So, Shapeways expanded its materials portfolio into precious metal plating – the same shine without the same high price.
With precious metal plating, Shapeways offers customers the ability to obtain printed objects in 18k and 14k Gold, 14k Rose Gold and Rhodium.…Continue Reading →

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3D Printing Industry (3DPI) is a global media company providing a dedicated resource for anyone interested in 3D printing — a technology field that is growing quickly in relevance and application across industrial and consumer sectors. The mission of 3DPI is to report on and create original content about the latest developments in 3D printing to keep our large and growing audience abreast of technology breakthroughs, the latest applications and the opinions of industry insiders.

3DPI works with a dedicated team of writers with experience and a keen interest in this technology field technology. Their remit is to provide reliable news, interviews and insight about the latest trends in 3D printing across the board, including the pioneering home users, the maker community and industrialists.

3DPI provides a compelling blend of articles, blog posts and opinions, as well as videos and images across all platforms through our main website and social media sites. The company is also developing a series of industry leading reports for the market, in collaboration with Econolyst.